Members of the OCC College Republicans hold a U.S. flag as a counter protest to other students, including those in the Feminist Club, who show their support for instructor Olga Perez Stable Cox during a campus rally in Costa Mesa, California, December 12, 2016. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A protest before a Milo Yiannopoulos appearance turned physical last year at UC Irvine. Protestor Stu Millheiser took a swing at a group of students claiming racial injustice on the UC Irvine campus. The UCI Republican Club and the UCI Americans for Liberty hosted a speech by Milo Yiannopoulos. (Photo by BILL ALKOFER, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/SCNG)

Ashton Whitty, left, 21, and Hailey Carlson, right, 24, University of California, Berkeley students, make their feelings known during a press conference held by the Berkeley College Republicans in Sproul Plaza on the Cal campus in Berkeley, Calif., on Wednesday, April 26, 2017. The event was held to discuss the cancellation of speaker Ann Coulter’s appearance on campus. (Dan Honda/East Bay Times via AP) ORG XMIT: CACCT202

Demonstrators protest the appearance of right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos rally in Berkeley, Calif., Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017. Yiannopoulos was whisked away in a car after a brief appearance at the University of California, Berkeley that drew a few dozen supporters and a slightly larger crowd protesting him. (AP Photo/Daisy Nguyen)

Matthew Vitale, a leader with the UC Riverside College Republicans chapter, had his “Make America Great Again” ball cap recently taken by another student, who denounced it as representing genocide. He is running for a post in Saturday’s California College Republicans election in Anaheim. (Photo courtesy of Matthew Vitale)

Andrew Mendoza and Steven An, leaders with the UC Davis College Republicans, pose by a table they set up on campus this month to share information about their club with other students. Courtesy: Andrew Mendoza, UC Davis College Republicans

UC Davis College Republicans were visited earlier this month by Shawn Steel, center, an Orange County-based attorney and Republican National Committeeman from California. Courtesy: Andrew Mendoza, UC Davis College Republicans

Leesa Danzek, a former leader with the University of Southern California College Republicans, is running for president of the California College Republicans. The election is Saturday during the California Republican Party convention in Anaheim. (Photo courtesy of California College Republicans)

Ariana Rowlands, a leader with the UC Irvine College Republicans, is running for president of the California College Republicans. The election is Saturday during the California Republican Party convention in Anaheim. (Photo by Nick Agro, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Shawn Steel, attorney and former head of the California Republican Party who is representing the OCC College Republicans, keeps an eye on a rally and counter-protest for instructor Olga Perez Stable Cox in Costa Mesa, California, December 12, 2016. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

College Republicans from across California came together in the spring to network, party and elect new leaders.

No problem, for the most part, with the networking and partying. But then came the election. In what party officials say is the biggest clash in a generation, it pitted two rival factions against each other for leadership of the group.

“It was a huge mess,” said Matthew Vitale, a leader with the UC Riverside College Republican chapter.

Hours-long debates on parliamentary procedures and questions about who could and couldn’t vote ended with student organizers booting more than 150 delegatesfrom aDouble Tree Hotel ballroom in San Jose, where the election was being held, into a hallway. The meeting dissolved into heated debates over procedures and by the time some delegates were allowed to return, it was too late. Hotel staff said it was time to go.

The group’s president, megaphone in hand, announced a recess.

That was last April.

On Saturday, the California College Republicans are scheduled to reconvene during the California Republican Party convention in Anaheim.

And six months later, tensions still run high–a collegiate divide that in some ways mirrors thenational schism among their older GOP counterparts. How it plays out has the potential to impact the future of an organization that touts itself as the “premiere conservative grassroots organization on college campuses in California.” It also comes at a time when many College Republicans across the nation see themselves as cultural warriors and the lead voices fighting for free speech rights on campuses.

Rebuild vs. Thrive

The election pits Ariana Rowlands, an outspoken leader with the UC Irvine College Republicans against Leesa Danzek, a recent graduate of the University of Southern California who is now serving chairwoman of the state College Republicans.

Rowlands, 20, a political science major from Ladera Ranch and contributor to conservative online publications, including Breitbart, said she’s fighting the establishment.

“The California College Republicans relies on a model that worked 20 years ago, before the political polarization of America. And it’s gotten worse on college campuses,” Rowlands said.

Rowlands characterized her slate, Rebuild CCR, as activists and the opposing slate, Thrive CCR, as members who want to maintain the status quo, working mostly on precinct campaigning for Republican candidates at the request of county and state leaders.

“I want to knock on doors too, but we also have to focus on the cultural wars we have on campus,” she said.

Rowlands said her slate wants to institute a “bottom-up” approach, supporting chapters in their efforts to promote conservatism. The group’s platform, focuses on growing membership, promoting the College Republican brand and ensuring chapters host speakers.

The Rebuild slate also wants to establish a legal defense fund that will support chapters that battle university administrations over controversial speakers such as conservative author and commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, who Rowlands brought to UCI twice last year.

“This is a new age on college campuses where conservatives finally fight back and shed the shackles of political correctness. We’ve been held back for so long by not only our peers but our own unwillingness to offend the sensitive with our perfectly respectable opinions,” Rowlands said.

Danzek, who graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in political science last year, did not make herself available for an interview with the Southern California News Group. In a brief phone call, Danzek said she was the only person who could speak for her slate, Thrive, and the only person who could speak for the California College Republicans. She said she would call back, but did not.

On the Thrive website, Danzek said the organization saw growth over the past year and her goal is “to build upon this momentum.”

Danzek works as a field representative for the California Republican Party and previously interned for Congressman Steve Knight in his Simi Valley district office, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Rowlands said her Rebuild slate is more pro-Trump, though that’s not the only issue in the group’s current campaign. “Thrive is definitely more liberal than we are. We adhere more to the traditional values of the Republican Party,” she said.

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Several Thrive candidates interviewed for this story said there aren’t necessarily clear ideological splits between the two groups. Just as in the general Republican Party, there are those who support President Trump and his ideas and those who don’t.

David Pingree, 20, a candidate from Palo Verde Valley College in Blythe who is running for activism director on the Thrive slate, dismisses the notion that he’s part of a more mainstream collegiate slate. He said it’s vital that students not only help local politicians get elected but also themselves run for student government. He said both slates have plans to grow new chapters and both groups have similar goals, but may pursue them differently.

Pingree said he’s socially liberal, “100 percent for small government” and would like President Trump more “if he would talk a little bit less.”

Andrew Mendoza, the president of the UC Davis College Republicans, a Trump supporter and a Thrive slate candidate, said Thrive encompasses the “more respectable part of the party.” Also, the Rebuild slate, he said, sees the statewide college Republican group as a mother ship organization with a more centralized view of how things should be done. “Thrive has a decentralized, more Republican view of what the organization should be.”

Until this year, the state group’s elections typically were noncontroversial passings of a baton, Recalde-Martinez said.

“It was like a good ole’ boys club.”

First time in years

The last time there was this much controversy was three decades ago, according to Fred Whitaker, chairman of the Orange County Republican Party.

“I was running for chairman of the state College Republicans and we split into two organizations,” Whitaker said. A “unity convention” followed and both groups reunited a year later, he said. College Republican chapters are key to providing volunteers and interns for campaigns and, eventually, many become the state’s future leaders, he said.

Orange County attorney Shawn Steel, a Republican National Committee member who has worked with college Republicans, endorsed Danzek but said either candidate “would be a great addition for bringing about tolerance and free discussion on California campuses.”

“My major concern is no matter what, no matter who wins, there’s nothing but unity talk,” Steel said. “We are ourselves an endangered minority on campus. We can’t afford to fight each other. “

“One of the strangest things…”

The election last April in San Jose left many with a foul taste.

“It was one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen,” said Jacob Ellenhorn, a former president of USC College Republicans, running on the Rebuild slate for executive director. (The USC chapter has endorsed the Rebuild slate, not Danzek, their former chapter vice president.)

The state College Republican group is growing and has about 50 chapters, but it also has lost some chapters, which are renaming themselves or going elsewhere, Rowlands said. Meanwhile, other conservative organizations, such as Turning Points USA, are opening clubs on more campuses, including Cal State Long Beach.

At UCLA, Republicans named their group Bruin Republicans years ago and chose to distance themselves from the California organization, said Haley Nieves, 21, who recently graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in political science and now works for a super PAC.

Nieves, who has a spot on the state board representing the Los Angeles region, said she hopes the division will end after Saturday’s election.

“Despite all the drama and the division present, College Republican leaders are still standing for the standards of conservatism on their campuses,” she said.

Vitale, of the UC Riverside chapter and a Rebuild supporter, agreed. “At this point, I just want to see unity,” he said.

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